Keynote 6: Transforming Education: Connecting Logic, Love & Learning

Keynote 6: Transforming Education: Connecting Logic, Love & Learning

Transforming Education: Connecting Logic, Love & Learning

Education is the cornerstone of civilisation, and its impact on teachers, children, families and communities is incalculable. This makes teachers social architects, and the unsung heroes of the world because they hold the hands of the children who will build the future. Forging a sustainable future requires a solid foundation, which means it is time to accept that the problems facing academia come from homes. Designed in 2003, BeLonging is based on a unitive whole systems model that revealed the unbreakable connection between living systems —people— and life-like systems —the relationships we co-create. First implemented in Italy, BeLonging has been in continual operation since 2004. It was a finalist for the 2007 Copenhagen Index Award, nominated as a project that was benefiting an entire community.

In 2017, BeLonging was rebranded, and one-week international betas were initiated in culturally diverse communities to test the universal principles and the requirement for local adaptation. Both betas, 3rd graders at the Green School in Bali, and 1st graders at the International School of Monterey, a public charter school in California, experienced success such that the programmes continued and are growing. Providing evidence of a global remedy, BeLonging is a simple solution for a world steeping in complex problems. For too long society has separated winners from losers. BeLonging lets everyone win by simply putting learners in charge of the social dimension of their learning environment. Without touching the curriculum, it gives teachers time to teach, while students have real time experiences dealing with true physical, emotional and cognitive issues. Using logic they feel what it means to belong. Finding a solution to a problem and making decisions lets them know that they are good enough and smart enough.

BeLonging is all about healthy relationships. A healthy global village means the bodies, hearts, attitudes and spirits of teachers must be renewed in order for classrooms to become places where authenticity and cooperation redefine competition. By enabling administration and teachers to face and resolve what are appear to be Gordian problems straight on, BeLonging is a solution that connects. That the combination of a 2-day realationship experience for teachers, and a daily game of roles and responsibilities for students leads to conscious cooperation, makes BeLonging a global game changer.